ELEMENT CYLCLES AND YOU: WHY THIS MATTERS FOR UNDERSTANING GLOBAL CLIMATE
CHANGE
Jennifer Powers, University of Minnesota (powers@umn.edu)
Overview:
It is well established that the cycling of the element carbon between the atmosphere and
biosphere is intimately tied to processes affecting the global climate system. However, in the
biosphere, carbon is coupled to other elements including nitrogen and phosphorus through
stoichiometry, and understanding these linkages has emerged as a key uncertainty in our
understanding of global change. In this lecture we will review theories of element cycle
dynamics in terrestrial ecosystems and how this constrains processes such as net primary
production decomposition. We conclude by integrating element cycling into a framework for
understanding global climate change.
Required Readings:
Townsend, A. R., C. C. Cleveland, B. Z. Houlton, C. B. Alden, and J. W. C. White (2011), Multielement regulation of the tropical forest carbon cycle, Front Ecol Environ, 9, 9-17.
Optional/Suggested Readings:
Cleveland, C. C., et al. (2011), Relationships among net primary productivity, nutrients and
climate in tropical rain forest: a pan-tropical analysis, Ecology Letters, 14(9), 939-947.
Galloway, J. N., A. M. Leach, A. Bleeker, and J. W. Erisman (2013), A chronology of human
understanding of the nitrogen cycle, Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B-Biological
Sciences, 368(1621).
Hietz, H., B. L. Turner, W. Wanek, A. Richter, C. A. Nock, and S. J. Wright (2011), Long-term
change in the nitrogen cycle of tropical forests, Science, 334, 664-666.
Walker, T. W., and J. K. Syers (1976), The fate of phosphorus during pedogenesis, Geoderma,
15, 1-19.